Embedded Files
Hello, Fellow Freethinkers.
Here in Central Ohio, festival season is in full swing. In June we’ll see the Juneteenth Ohio Festival (June 19-20), the Stonewall Columbus Pride Festival (June 19-20), ComFest (June 26-28) (where COFFRF members Bill Fullarton, Glenn Waring, and David Krohn dressed up as Fathers of the country last year to promote church/state separation - look for them again this year!), and even the Historic Hilltop Bean Dinner (June 27).
Enjoy them all, and stay safe and hydrated while you do.
In this newsletter, we share a thoughtful guest essay called “Leave Religion out of My Mental Health Recovery” a persuasive, compelling examination of how mental health and substance use recovery programs can do more harm than good when they promote religion over spiritually, or when they promote Christianity over other religions.
Photo by Susan Holt Simpson on Unsplash
In honor of Juneteenth and in response to the recent tragic killing of a 1-year old Black toddler by a police officer in Mississippi, we present for your viewing and contemplation a TEDxColumbus talk from 2013. In it, civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander examines social and racial justice in America. It remains salient subject matter and is worth watching.
If it sounds like these are heavy, challenging topics to read about and examine, that's because they are. But they’re important, and that’s why we present them.
Now is not the time to tune out. Stay informed. Do what you can. Rest when you need to. And let’s be sure take care of each other.
As always, please forward this newsletter to the people who need to read it.
Thanks for reading,
Your COFFRF Planning Committee
Matthew Dyer, Chair
David Jon Krohn, treasurer
Bill Fullarton
Glenn Waring
Anita Bucknam
Les Kleen
JP, webmaster
Famous LGBTQ+ Freethinkers
Famous LGBTQ+ Freethinkers
“I’m an atheist. The good news about atheists is that we have no mandate to convert anyone. So you’ll never find me on your doorstep on a Saturday morning with a big smile, saying, ‘Just stopped by to tell you there is no word. I brought along this little blank book I was hoping you could take a look at.’”
- Paula Poundstone
In honor of Pride Month, FFRF published highlights about some of the many distinguished LGBTQ+ individuals, past and present, who have made known their dissent from religion. FFRF salutes Pride Month and famous LGBTQ+ freethinkers (freethoughtnow.org)
Leave Religion out of My Mental Health Recovery (Laurie Donley, May 2026)
Leave Religion out of My Mental Health Recovery (Laurie Donley, May 2026)
Introduction by Matthew Dyer
I recently became certified in Ohio as a Peer Recovery Supporter. The training curriculum included a section on the positive role that spirituality and religion can play in the recovery process. While a semantic distinction between the two was made, it wasn’t made strongly enough for my comfort. I found myself highly activated by the subtle endorsement of religion, and what I considered to be language that bordered on Christian Nationalism. I wasn’t alone in my perception.
A fellow certification candidate, Laurie Donley, wrote a compelling, highly rational response addressing that section of the curriculum and shared it with me and the program manager. When I read it, I immediately asked Laurie if I could share it in this newsletter. She agreed, and you can read it below.
The Future of Race in America: Michelle Alexander at TEDxColumbus (2013)
The Future of Race in America: Michelle Alexander at TEDxColumbus (2013)
Introduction by Matthew Dyer
When you consider Juneteenth is meant to commemorates an effective end of slavery in the United States, it's worth contemplating how far the United States has come since June 19, 1865.
In this TEDxColumbus talk, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that mass incarceration serves as a modern racial caste system, functioning as "The New Jim Crow". She outlines how the "War on Drugs" disproportionately targets communities of color, creating a cycle of legal second-class citizenship and systemic disenfranchisement.
Originally delivered in 2013, the subject remains salient.
What Just Happened? The Ohio Organizing Collaborative’s FBI Raid
What Just Happened? The Ohio Organizing Collaborative’s FBI Raid
Substack user @Joonbug is calling it the second wave of US authoritarianism, “…quieter, more patient, and more dangerous.” It's not too hard to guess why. Here's a roundup of information about what just happened in Columbus, Ohio. Some may be interested to know that the Collaborative’s donate page is live: ohorganizing.org/donate. You can also email them: info@ohorganizing.org or call: (330) 743-1196.
FBI asked elections officials about firm linked to Ohio progressive group more than a year before raid (signalakron..org). Black Fork Strategies, owned by an Ohio Organizing Collaborative founder and a major vendor of an OOC affiliate, drew complaints from county elections boards over voter registration forms in 2023 and 2024.
FBI searches office of Ohio group that supports voter registration efforts (apnews.com). FBI agents have searched the office of an Ohio group that supports voter registration efforts, seizing documents and computer files, a board member of the organization said Friday.
(Opinion) Protest doesn’t scare the Trump administration. Organizing does. (bostonglobe.com via archive.is). More than 100 federal agents descended on an Ohio group that does democracy’s slowest, most patient work. The target was not an accident.
Why did the FBI raid the Ohio Organizing Collaborative? Here’s what we know. (cleveland.com). Answers are scant on why the FBI raided the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a grassroots nonprofit working on voter rights issues, last week.
A week after the FBI searched an Ohio voting-rights group, questions remain. (ohiocapitaljournal.com). FBI agents last week conducted a statewide sweep targeting the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a group that promotes voting rights — particularly those of historically disenfranchised groups.
Please note: Any third party articles, opinions, or commentary shared in our newsletter are the author's and do not necessarily represent FFRF's or COFFRF's official positions.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse